Life is but a Dream
by Cleopatra Brimstone
Summary: AU sess/kag Kagome has fallen on rough times. She's 19 years old, going to college part time, working two jobs and trying to take care of her little sister Rin. One night Rin is kidnapped and Kagome follows her through her basement door into another world


**~*~*~*~** Life is but a dream**~*~*~*~**

This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction, let alone creative writing for a long while, so please review! ^_^

In this Chapter I use two Japanese words.

**Hime** means princess and **–chan** is an affectionate honorific (used to show endearment, especially when referring to young children and girls). 

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing except for my pocket lint!

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**Chapter 1** A Hunter's Moon

Spring is the best season, universally speaking.

It never mattered which world he crossed into, the drifting dreams of the untainted would stretch past the chalk ridden class rooms, beyond the swing's frozen chain links and into the sun speckled playgrounds of tomorrow. And while he slipped inside their bedrooms and into their tiny, infinitesimal minds he whispered golden promises. A ghost of things to come. 

He left the unexciting ones, of course. The world was a banquet of children fattened with innocence, and it wouldn't do to fill up on junk food. He crept slowly to stir his appetite. 

Not that he needed the encouragement, he thought, smiling.  The smile was cold, stabbing into the wild darkness like the fang bared grin of the silver crescent high above. An incomplete orb, he thought, but not for long. The shikon echoed his thoughts with a throbbing pale light.

He turned and peered at the building on the corner. There was a pulse emitting from it, soft and fluttery like the erratically beating wings of a dying butterfly. For the first time that night, Naraku felt something akin to warmth swell up inside of himself. The moon hovered above forlornly as he placed a palm on the building's cool surface and seeped into the basement's dark.

*~ *~ *~ *~ 

Outside, the tree branches grazed her window like a demon's claws seeking entrance. Rin wanted to cry out, but couldn't. No one would hear her. 

She kicked the blankets and swallowed a growing lump in her throat. It felt dry, as if hundreds of moths were stuck there, twitching in frustration. Kagome wouldn't be back for another hour. The café where she worked had been keeping her longer and longer. One day, they might keep her forever. Then the night would never end and she would be swallowed by a wave of shadows. But tonight Kagome promised to be back by three, so Rin had to be a good girl. A sleeping girl.

Before the bad thing happened, Rin liked to sleep. She'd have wondrous dreams like fairy tales with princes and princesses and flying dragons too. Sometimes they got a little scary, but her mommy and daddy would always be there when she woke up. They'd cover her with hugs and kisses and pretty soon she'd forget what was so scary in the first place. Now only Kagome comforted her when the Dreams came, and Kagome wasn't home. Now, she was alone.

She licked her lips that still tasted salty from the last Dream she had an hour ago. There were cherry blossom trees and a man. The man had many masks, and when he smiled, the plastic scraped against plastic. She couldn't remember the rest, but had gathered enough courage since to wriggle out of bed to get a glass of water. 

Kagome said that one day they'd have a castle for a house, with a kitchen twice as big as the last one. "I'd have to call you hime-chan, then!" she said and curtsied deeply. But even as they giggled and dressed up, Rin knew it was just for pretend. Kagome's solemn eyes had told her so.

She clambered on top of the kitchen sink and reached for a glass in the cabinet when she heard something skitter. She spun around quickly, forgetting about the cup. It teetered for one breathless moment before it crashed in a shower of glass. Rin's eyes widened at the splinters that littered the floor and counter. Carefully, she eased herself to the safer part of the floor. Her heart pounded so loudly, like a drummer's parade, she didn't hear the sobbing until she placed a hand over her mouth. 

It was coming from the basement. At first it was so quiet she thought it was her imagination "running wild" again, like Kagome would always say. __

_Help._

Rin's eyes were watery and wide like two full moons. She turned very slowly towards the basement door. Her trembling hand was still covering her mouth and her feet screamed to move in the opposite direction, but she didn't dare turn away from the sound.

"Who..."

"Who's there," she whispered in a very tiny voice.

The Thing In The Basement hiccupped in a hitched breath. She crept closer. The door had gone from a pale pink to a healthy flush from the moonlight seeping in like sea mist. 

_Help… please._

Rin's heart started beating even faster as a battle raged inside. The Thing In The Basement sounded as scared as she was, maybe even more. She could run and wait for Kagome, or she could be brave. She placed a trembling hand on the doorknob and turned.

The door slid open to reveal a narrow staircase leading to the pool of dark below. The cries had gotten a little louder, and Rin was sure that it was a little boy or girl.  The stairs creaked as she placed her feet tentatively, one in front of the other. 

"Where are you?" She called into the darkness. 

_I'm scared._

She waved a hand in front of her, hoping that maybe she'd bump into him at least. 

_Help._

 She frowned, a feeling of unease swamping her. "Where are you?" she whispered again.__

_Here I am_. 

She didn't have the time to spin around because he caught her around the middle. She tried to call out, but her voice was lost. Her movements were sluggish, as if she were melting into a puddle like the wicked witch of the west. And as they tumbled backwards, she thought his voice had changed, like the sound of a thousand masks scattered on the breeze.

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Author's Notes:

I really wasn't sure about the ending. It wasn't exactly what I wanted to say, but everything else I tried sounded just the same. Anyways! I want to give a very special thanks to **L o k i and ****Enkida for helping me out with this chapter! ::Hugs them both::**

^_______^

Thanks for reading and please review!


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